Schmid, the new coach for the new pro team, is a little different than the other newbies making beach landings to save local teams. Schmid has the makings of an icon.

If only he coached something other than soccer, his name would be on every marquee in town ("Schmidnight Madness!").

But within the tidy gathering that pays attention to Major League Soccer, Schmid could be considered a fair equivalent to the hirings of Piniella and Holmgren.

Schmid won three NCAA championships in a 19-year career at UCLA, his alma mater. He moved to the infant MLS pro game, where he won a title in his first job with the Los Angeles Galaxy, as well as his second gig with the Columbus Crew -- just last month, in fact.

What we have here is a coach fresh off a national championship coming to an expansion team. That's a leap only approximated by Piniella, who had won a World Series with Cincinnati in 1990 when he came to the woebegone Mariners in 1993, and Holmgren, who won a Super Bowl with Green Bay in 1996 when he came to the moribund Seahawks in 1999.

In contrast to the recent hires by the Mariners and Huskies, the Sounders FC, at 0-0 neither woebegone nor moribund, went top-shelf for a fast start, for which can be offered nothing but congratulations.

Doesn't mean that the no-names won't work, nor that Schmid will succeed. It means that the aggressive Sounders FC is out to make a good impression fast in the bleak vastness of the local sports void.

The hire also fits the sports M.O. of the guy who has an ownership stake in the Seahawks and Sounders FC, Paul Allen. Just as they did with Holmgren and the Packers, Allen's people did some work with a pry bar to loosen Schmid from his relations with Columbus. The Ohio outfit failed to extend his contract during the season, which unexpectedly turned into a championship run, making Schmid a free agent.

Columbus charged the Sounders FC with tampering, claiming they interfered with contract bargaining. The league office dismissed the claim, but the Sounders FC had to buy out Schmid's noncompete clause and beat the rest of the league to him.

Allen wanted the best guy available in both kinds of football, and scored. For his other pro team, the Portland Trail Blazers, he did much the same. While the Sonics ownership fiddled and trembled over extending the contract of coach Nate McMillan, he had a 52-win season that was rewarded by Allen with $27 million to coach the Blazers.

In a sports league where player salaries are relatively low and talent distributed with some equality, the one spot where ownership can have an impact in the MLS is the coaching hire. Schmid's résumé says he's the guy.

But he's stuck with an expansion team, not typically the province of 55-year-olds who've already been successful. Which speaks to a certain urgency.

"I'm too old to rebuild for too long, "said Schmid, laughing. Then he corrected himself.

"I'm not rebuilding. I'm building."

In a league still finding its place in the national sports firmament, in a world where the American league is second-tier, and in a global economy that is circling the drain, the Sounders FC has no choice but to build fast and hard and hope it gets lucky.

Schmid, of ample belly and larger personality, seems the sort of garrulous character who can help make the sale. He evoked a name from the Sounders' NASL past, Jimmy Gabriel, who offered Schmid long ago some wisdom that resonated.

"He said, 'Soccer can't be fun-fun, and it can't be serious-serious. It's got to be serious fun.'

"So I'm telling you right now, in these years ahead, we're going to have some serious fun."

Serious sports fun? In Seattle? The market is so open, it aches. First come, first served.